


Stealing Time Together

by ruemasde



Category: Friends at the Table (Podcast)
Genre: F/F, Post-September Incident (COUNTER/Weight), let aria and jacqui just go on a date!, suddenly becoming the leader of a company/political organization is stressful it turns out
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-31
Updated: 2021-01-31
Packaged: 2021-03-18 05:47:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,695
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29113275
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ruemasde/pseuds/ruemasde
Summary: It's been a year since September, and Aria hasn't been herself lately, with the increasing stress of running the Righteous Vanguard. Jacqui decides to do something about it.(Alternate title: Aria Joie's Day Off)
Relationships: Jacqui Green/Aria Joie
Comments: 2
Kudos: 5





	Stealing Time Together

**Author's Note:**

> This is my Secret Samol 2020 @lovelylilypads, who requested Aria and Jacqui on a date after September. I had a lot of fun thinking about their dynamic during this time and how it leads to what we see in the finale. I hope you enjoy!

The thing that makes Jacqui know that something is wrong is that she hasn't heard Aria laugh in three weeks. 

She's not exactly a quiet person- she's energetic, cheerful, takes up space, doesn’t demand your attention but gets it anyway because why would you be looking anywhere else? Jacqui’s seen her turn it off, but it's not just a stage persona- Aria Joie is who she is, even far away from EarthHome contracts and adoring fans. 

Which is why this way she’s been folding into herself in the months after September has been weird. Some of it, she gets- Aria lost that friend who was also some divines, and the planet blew up and they almost died, and now she’s dealing with this other divine who seems like the worst of the bunch along with  _ Ibex _ , and she’s not really sure where the difference ends with those two. But in the aftermath it seemed like she was putting even more effort into her persona, which may not have been great either, but at least she was  _ talking  _ to Jacqui. 

Now though, a year after September, Aria wakes up and leaves before Jacqui's finished rubbing the sleep from her eyes, and goes to some boardroom for some meeting about a company she doesn't really care about except for the parts of it she cares  _ too _ much about, because sometimes there’s a  _ robot  _ in her brain, and she comes home tired and drained and  _ quiet _ . 

But Jacqui isn’t a woman who sits and waits for things to change- if there's one thing she's good at, it’s grabbing a situation and shaking it ‘till it snaps, and she has a good idea how to do that. 

That night, Aria comes home quiet, her only sign of entry the small  _ click _ of the lock in their apartment. Jacqui is already sitting on the couch watching TV, and when she hears her, calls, “Babe, come here?”

She hears Aria put her stuff down and make her way over to the couch. She all but collapses into Jacqui’s side, and Jacqui takes the opportunity to begin undoing Aria's hair from her tight bun, carding her metal fingers through the strands. She knows how to be gentle, even if it’s not her usual M.O., to make sure hair doesn’t catch in the joints; she learned that before Aria, and  _ no _ , she can’t think about Jill right now, this isn’t the time.

Aria is still quiet at her side, and Jacqui’s never been one for subtlety, so after a moment she just says, “You’re taking tomorrow off.”

She made sure to move her hands when she said that, because as expected Aria jerks away to look at her. “What?” she asks, looking confused.

“Your secretary said you don’t have anything important to do tomorrow, so you have the day off,” Jacqui repeats, looking Aria dead in the eyes.

Aria is still looking at her like she has two heads, and Jacqui just decides to let her work out whatever she wants to say. After a minute, she says “Wh- You- talked to my secretary?”

“Well, I called this afternoon to give you an update on that Diaspora bureaucrat who’d been leading those attacks on our supplies-” and Aria perks up as she says that, as if she still wants to do more work even  _ now _ , and Jacqui just waves her away, saying, “It went  _ fine _ , he’s not going to bother us anymore, I gave the report to some other guy, don’t worry about it. Anyway, your secretary said you were negotiating with that Minerva representative and would be for the rest of the day. Then, they said that would be finished today, and there’s no reason you need to be the one to talk to the assholes in charge of marketing tomorrow-”

“Jaran doesn’t talk like that,” Aria interjects, still looking vaguely stunned, but Jacqui just ignores her.

“Well, I’m summarizing. But  _ basically _ , they said you need a fucking day off, and I agree. You're pushing yourself too hard, Aria,” she finishes, and isn’t surprised when Aria turns her gaze away, back to the TV droning in the corner. 

“Jacqui, I’m  _ fine _ . This is  _ important,  _ I need to help fix all of this, I can’t just  _ relax while _ the world is still like this-”

“Aria, you  _ need  _ to take a day off or you’re going to lose it. You can’t just keep throwing yourself at it without ever stopping. It can wait for one day. You’re not  _ you  _ lately, you’re all… sad,” she finishes lamely, not sure how to encompass the discomfort of seeing someone like Aria, bright and energetic and optimistic, worn down by a universe against her. “I just… I miss you.”

Aria looks like she’s been punched in the gut by that and says, “Jacqui, I’m… I’m still  _ here. _ ”

“No, you’re… really not,” and Jacqui didn’t want  _ this _ , where Aria looks even sadder than she did when she came in, so she continues, forcing a smirk and saying, “And anyway, it doesn’t matter, because your secretary already told me that they’re not going to let you into the building tomorrow anyway.”

“What! Jacqui!”

“Listen, you’re taking tomorrow off, and we’re going to the mall, and after that you can go back to throwing yourself into work. Think of it this way, making these assholes stew a bit is probably good, right?” Jacqui honestly has very little idea about the more political side of Aria’s new job, mostly only coming in when there is something or someone to punch into submission, but she does understand the appeal of making jackass politicians squirm.

Aria actually smiles at that, a small thing she can’t seem to entirely tamp down, and Jacqui marks that as a victory. She slumps back into Jacqui’s shoulder with a huff, and Jacqui wastes no time in going back to untangling her hair. “Ugh! Fine, since you’ve apparently turned my staff against me. But really Jacqui, I’m  _ fine _ , it’s just… been busy lately.” Jacqui doesn’t even bother to respond besides a sarcastic  _ mhm _ , and Aria just sighs again. “So, we’re going to the mall? Why are we going there?” she asks.

“Hmm,” she says, faking thoughtfulness. “Well, I guess we’ll see in the morning!” and she laughs as Aria smacks her shoulder before leaning back into, huffing a “ _ Fine,  _ be that way, _ ”  _ as they settle in for the night.

—

As soon as they make it inside the store, Aria gives an excited gasp and rushes forward to the glass case, and Jacqui knows she made the right call. 

The store is packed, filled with in-person shoppers pushing each other to get to the front of the store, where a section with the actual product is still roped off. 

Aria is all but bouncing on her feet, and the excitement in her voice is unmistakable when she says, “I didn’t know the new line was coming out yet, how did I not hear about this!”

“It’s apparently a surprise release,” Jacqui shrugs, looking down at the makeup boxes and trying to understand what’s different about this one that means there was a cover charge just to get  _ in _ the store. She’s not opposed to it, but she’s never really  _ gotten _ makeup the way Aria seems to be interested in it, but she really doesn’t care right now. Anything is worth hearing Aria  _ excited _ and passionate again about something that’s not trying to use her for all she’s worth.

“Well,  _ yeah _ ,” Aria says, still looking at the samples in front of her, “Tana Rexdara  _ always  _ puts out her new line as a surprise, and she  _ only _ ever does it in person, but she puts out clues so that you can figure out when it’s coming! I’ve  _ never _ missed one, how…” and then she pauses, seeming to realize at the same time as Jacqui the reason why she had been out of the loop. For a second she looks guilty, and Jacqui’s not sure what to do about that, but then she turns to Jacqui and says, “Wait, so how did  _ you  _ know about this? It’s not exactly something you can just search on the Mesh.”

“I asked your friend, Jamil,” Jacqui says, and pointedly keeps her face steady when Aria suddenly turns to her. 

“You…. talked. With Jamil.” Aria pauses, and realizing she was not getting a response, says, “The woman you tried to kidnap?”

Suddenly finding the tray of holographic nail polish very interesting, Jacqui doesn’t turn to Aria when she says, “Well, technically, I guess Mako talked to her. I asked Cass first, but they weren’t really sure. She said you two went to each of the releases while you were both on Counterweight. Did you know they work together?”

Aria ignores her question, and looks down at the makeup in her hands. “Cass and Mako are involved in this too?”

Honestly, Jacqui can’t figure out what the comforting thing to say here is, so again she falls to honesty. “Listen, I know all three of you are busy because you all decided to be CEOs and emperors and spies, but they’re still your friends. This isn’t a,  _ we think you can’t handle this _ , or whatever. They’re your friends, and they want to help you like you’d want to help them.” 

Aria is now looking at Jacqui with a serious expression on her face, and she's still too  _ closed-off _ , but after a moment it softens, and she reaches up and puts a hand on Jacqui’s cheek for a second. “Thank you, Jacqui. I know I’ve been… out of it, lately. And, the work, it  _ is  _ important to me, but, you’re right. I’m not going to be help to anyone if I start resenting it.”

She holds there for a moment more before pulling away. Then, she smiles, not a fake one but genuine and a little mischievous. “Now c’mon. I can tell this isn’t exactly your scene-“ she waves off Jacqui's attempt at protest without even looking at her, “So I’m going to pay for this, and then I have something I think you’re gonna like.”

—

Jacqui vaults over the box, catching her breath behind it for a minute while laser fire goes on above her head. 

She turns to the twerp next to her and says, “You go left, I’ll go right,” and turns her direction before he can respond. She dodges laser fire, sending back her own, when she hears a noise from next to her. She sees the kid standing shocked in the open, a sitting duck, and the laser fire heading towards him- 

And then it connects, causing the chest armor to flash and beep a sad tone, and the kid huffs and throws his laser gun on the floor and walks out towards the exit of the laser tag center. 

“Using someone for bait isn’t very nice,” she hears Aria call out from where the last shot came from, and Jacqui can’t help the shark grin as she silently makes her way over there. 

When Aria had first suggested laser tag, Jacqui was reluctant even as she agreed, but it really only took about two minutes of taunting from Aria to get her fired up, and by the time they made it there the trash talk had gotten them some looks from passerby, but Jacqui couldn’t give a shit about them. It had been so long since she heard that  _ fire  _ in Aria’s voice, the thing that had first drawn her to her when she still thought she was just cosplaying as her favorite pop idol. When they made it in and got suited up for opposite teams, Aria had kissed her on the cheek and said, “Now, time for a rematch.” 

Unsurprisingly, the other people at this laser tag center were not trained soldiers, and had quickly been eliminated by Aria and Jacqui on either team, Jacqui hearing at least one kid complaining about professionals. Now, it was just them, and Jacqui felt that old excitement pick up. 

She finally rounded the last corner where Aria should have been, drawing her gun and shooting, but the spot was now empty. She barely rolled away to avoid the shot from where Aria had snuck up behind her, and vaulted over the nearby barricade for cover. The room was filled with random obstructions, and the lack of a clear path meant Jacqui could slink around the room, rounding back to Aria. She wasn’t by nature a quiet woman, but she could pull it off when the occasion called for it, and without being able to use any of her normal weapons (a particularly brave employee had insisted that she at least remove the explosive charges), she knew that surprise and distraction were going to have to be a major factor. “C’mon Aria,” she taunts, trying to throw her voice, “Am I going to win a prize?” 

She just hears Aria scoff, which lets her know where she is, and suddenly Jacqui charges at her position. Aria curses and just dodges out of the way, making enough distance that Jacqui has to duck to dodge her shots again, giving Aria time to scramble away again. 

From the other side of the room, she hears Aria yell, “Y’know, I think I like this version of events better. You’re easier to deal with when the room’s not exploding,” and Jacqui can’t help her laugh at that, even as it means she has to quickly sprint away from the incoming laser fire.

“Oh yeah?” she shouts as she runs circles around Aria’s position. “Even though you’re going to lose again?”

“Hey! I won our last fight,” Aria yells indignantly, and seems offended enough that she doesn’t notice Jacqui coming forward to a closer vantage point.

Jacqui smirks her sharks grin as she yells, “Oh, is  _ that _ how you remember it?” and turns from her cover, shooting quickly at the spot where she heard Aria’s voice. She hears a yelp and sees the whip of her hair as she quickly turns to a new hiding spot. Jacqui curses and rushes towards her, but Aria has taken to climbing the boxes serving as their cover, and Jacqui can’t get a clear shot anymore.

“Well I’m alive, aren’t I?” Aria calls from somewhere above her, hidden in the dark amongst the boxes.

Jacqui can’t help but snort at that as she stalks forwards around the pillar Aria is in somewhere, and says, “I don’t know if asking someone on a date when they’ve got you dead to rights is really a method that works more than once, y’know.”

The peal of Aria’s laughter, a real genuine laugh that she hasn’t heard in  _ weeks, _ is so bright that it stuns Jacqui for a second, which is apparently all the time Aria needs to jump down from her perch, tackle Jacqui to the ground and point her laser gun at her chest. For a minute, they’re both just looking at each other, still breathing heavily, and Jacqui can’t help the wide grin that spreads across her face as she says, “Do you wanna just get a drink sometime?”

Aria stills for a moment, and then it's like a dam bursts as she laughs, head coming down to rest on Jacqui’s chest, and it's infectious, Jacqui joining in and closing her arms around Aria as they laugh on the tacky floor of the laser tag center. 

From across the room, she hears an employee, much less brave then the last, nervously call out, “Excuse me? Your session is over, can you-“, but Jacqui’s stopped listening by that point, choosing instead to scoop Aria up and stand, ignoring her squeak of protest, and walking out past the quaking laser tag attendant. 

Aria moves her arms so they’re around Jacqui’s neck as she’s carried out, and she leans up to give her a kiss, one hand cradling the back of Jacqui’s head. She can feel the way Arias is smiling into the kiss, in a way she hasn’t done in weeks, and so she isn't too disappointed when Aria pulls away again. 

“C’mon,” she says, looking bright and cheerful and  _ alive, _ “let's finally get that drink.”


End file.
